It’s no secret that the people of Israel don’t much like or trust Barack Obama.

The results of an opinion poll conducted last year for The Times of Israel show that only 1 in 5 Israelis believed that President Obama will prevent Israel’s sworn enemy, Iran, from obtaining nuclear weapons. Just 1 in 3 Israelis, said the poll, had a favorable view of Obama.

Now, as the election for Prime Minister looms with less than two weeks to go, new surveys show that Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election prospects have improved since he delivered his controversial “fateful crossroads” speech earlier this week to the U.S. Congress.

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Two polls have been sponsored by leading Israeli TV channels following Netanyahu’s widely watched address to American lawmakers in which he said that Obama’s emerging deal with Iran is a “very bad” one that “paves the way” for Iran’s nuclear ambitions and threatens the safety and security of the world.

When these two new polls asked who is fit to be Prime Minister of Israel — Netanyahu or his challenger, Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog — respondents overwhelmingly answered “Netanyahu.” According to The Jerusalem Post, he bettered Herzog 44% to 35% in one survey, and 47% to 28% in the other.

Netanyahu’s Likud party has also enjoyed a modest boost since Netanyahu’s big speech:

A Dialog poll on Channel 10 found the Likud had gained two seats and that it was now tied for the lead with the Zionist Union at 23 Knesset mandates.

A Midgam poll on Channel 2 had the Likud gaining one seat and remaining one mandate behind the Zionist Union, 24 to 23.

Huffington Post coverage of the new post-speech polls notes in its opening paragraph that Netanyahu “is still running neck and neck with his leading rival in a March 17 election.” That is true concerning party positioning but does not acknowledge the prime minister’s impressively wide margins of personal favorability.

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The Huffington Post article also points out that Netanyahu — who made numerous indirect references during his Congress speech to President Obama’s poor, even dangerous, deal-making skills — just offered further criticism of the president.

“Netanyahu rejected Obama’s charges that his speech had offered ‘no viable alternatives’ to an international deal being worked out with Tehran, saying he had presented a practical alternative in Washington to a ‘deeply flawed’ nuclear accord being negotiated with Iran.”

An article on Yahoo! News quotes a noted political scientist who believes Netanyahu’s speech was a success, even referring to it as “a masterpiece.”

“I think it played well here. In a way, it was a masterpiece,” said Tamar Hermann, a political scientist who conducts regular polling for the Israel Democracy Institute. “From a theatrical point of view, he did a great job.”